


Eyes

by ser_atlantisite



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Campfires, Drabble, Embarrassment, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Payback for the virginity jokes, Surprise Kissing, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 06:56:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6556309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ser_atlantisite/pseuds/ser_atlantisite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With all that's been happening, Alistair takes a moment to try and talk to the lady Warden, to get to know her better and maybe even cheer her up a little?</p><p>(self-indulgent exercise for my Cousland's new eye colour)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided my warden had heterochromia (dual-coloured eyes) and then I was trying to think how Alistair would address it and this happened and I think I'll keep it.

 The camp had reached that restful quiet, just before people began drifting off to their tents. She scraped the last bits out of her bowl, watching the fire, listening to the bard tuning her lyre, lute, whatever it was. Alistair sat down beside her. She threw him a quick smile and went back to her food.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure?” she said around her spoon. From the corner of her eye she watched him lean forward.

“Do you know that you never really look at people?  I mean you have a great glare when you are angry, sure, I can still feel your last one. But when you smile you never look people in the eye.”

She started and her food went down the wrong way. As she struggled to breathe she thought over how she spoke with people. Did she really do that? She turned to face Alistair, direct eye contact and everything, but holding his gaze just felt…strained, even as her gaze was already sliding away.

“What can I say, eye contact is hard. And overrated.”

“Well, what if I said you had some of the most beautiful eyes in Thedas?” He said it in his forced casual voice, not like he was trying to charm her, just his normal honest-but-nervous.

She snorted. “I would say you are a big dork.”

“Hey-“

“I mean it, with all due affection of course. I’d also say I’ve heard it before, along with ‘bewitching, stunning, demonic, fade-sent, Maker-touched’ and a lot more in between.”

“Someone actually said demonic?”

“A fair few.”

“For two different colours?”

She shrugged. “It is uncommon, and they look uneven and that…bothers, some people. Either way it’s…startling. They stare, and it can be, uncomfortable.”

The elf gave a not-so-subtle cough from his seat. She gave a wicked grin and flipped him off. “Yes yes everyone has bits of themselves they’d rather not have. Tragic tale of life.” That got a laugh in return.

Alistair shifted closer again. “But you shouldn’t…I mean they really are very…” He was smart enough to stop himself with a huff before he tried to compliment her again, although he didn’t seem like he was finished. What was he trying to do here, exactly?

“They are very…Ferelden,” he said finally. “Like one is this rich bit of dirt—I mean from the Bannorn, you know, strong farm soil, from the heart of Ferelden, and the other makes you think of our winter sky. You can imagine everything in between, everything we are trying to save from the blight…”

He trailed off, staring at her. Her face was burning now, she could feel that, and she couldn’t even pretend to fight the smile that was also growing.

Dammit.

She pressed both hands to her face like that would push the blush back down.

“No, don’t look away. That wasn’t the point. What I meant—“

“Maker…who even _says_ shit like that Alistair?” She groaned and leaned forward more. What in the Void did he think he was doing?

“You are aware I can actually still see you, right? And you are clearly smiling so—“

“Stop talking.”

“I must be on the right track. And I’m also completely serious.”

“So am I.” She risked a peak between her fingers; he had this smug little grin that was only getting bolder. Meanwhile she was fighting to get her expression back in order, caught between wanting to crawl in a hole and, well, keep grinning like an idiot, and also wondering _would stabbing him be totally unreasonable?_ “Stop talking right now.”

“Should I keep going with the imagery? Maybe work it into a rhyming poem?”

Ass. This was payback for the cracks about his virginity, had to be.

“Something about, oh how you keep the team grounded but soar…”

She finally dropped her hands from her face, if only to grab his collar and haul him over. She swallowed his next words, his startled gasp, pressing his mouth _shut_ with hers. That damnable mouth, always rambling and moving, joking, smiling, surprisingly soft and warm, the tickle of his stubble under her lip, the pressure as he leaned in a little bit more…

She moved back first, giving a gentle push until she could see those lips. They dropped open ever so slightly but were otherwise still. She hid her uneven breathing behind a smirk.

“That shut you up,” she said, confidently, breathy, just loudly enough. There was snickering from around the fire.

She settled back, smug that now at least he too was blushing just as badly. Of course she still couldn’t look him straight in the eye, but that was a whole different problem now.

She could deal with that later.


End file.
